What Lies Above
by FandomsAndBandMemes
Summary: Danny had never understood his parents obsession with the surface world and the land dwellers, but when a spell goes horribly wrong and he becomes half human, Danny must quickly learn how to balance his new life, new friends, and new enemies all while keeping his half-breed status a secret from everyone he loves. Shitty summary. MerDanny AU fic. Credit to otakubabes for plot
1. Chapter 1

**Yay, another story! Credit for plot line goes to otakubabes, as do much of the first chapter ideas.**

**I don't own Danny Phantom (go figure) or the initial plot line.**

* * *

_Backfire_

Danny swam around in circles, trying to get a better view of the 'sun' as the land-dwellers called the large glowing sky ball. The way it filtered through the water was rather pretty in his opinion and he wanted to get a better look at it, even if every time he tried to look right at it he got blinded the intensity of the light. Of course he wasn't going to go to the surface; that would be crazy! His parents had told him many stories about the land-dwellers and if we honest with himself, he was terrified of them; he certainly wasn't going to get anywhere near their territory, even if they couldn't follow him in the water. Finally he turned and swam home. His parents had been working on a new spell and he was eager to see it, despite the fact that it probably wouldn't work.

Danny's parents were mages, and would have been highly respected if not for their…hobby. Jack and Maddie were completely obsessed with land-dwellers, so much so that they wanted to capture one and –if Danny understood correctly- possibly dissect one, mostly just to see how they breathed. All that seemed rather beastly to Danny, who was glad that his parents have never seen a land-dweller, let alone capture one. Even if they did, how would they keep it alive anyway? His parents were smart, but they didn't know _that_ much. But the spell they had created, if it succeeded, would allow them to survive on land because they would be able to breathe…whatever it was that land-dwellers breathed. Danny wondered how they would move around, which led to the amusing image of his parents dragging themselves across the sand. This led to the question of just how land-dwellers moved around. He shook his head to clear his thoughts when he saw the ship his small clan of merfolk lived.

"Danny!" he heard a female voice call. Looking up, he saw his older sister swimming toward him. She had long red hair, a bright blue and black tail with matching fins, and light teal eyes.

"Hi Jazz. Where are you going?" Danny eyed the sachel slung around Jazz's shoulder.

"Anywhere but here right now," Jazz said distastefully, looking over at nearby cave.

"You sure you don't want to see if it works?"

"Do you think it will?"

Danny shook his head. "No, but imagine how thrilled our parents will be if it does." Jazz simply nodded and swam off.

Danny scowled at her back then turned and swam to the cave. The other merfolk wouldn't let his parents do their research (aka spell creation) in the ship because they had a tendency to be rather destructive when the spells failed, which was often. They had found the cave soon after the restriction was put in place, and it was soon covered in burn marks.

"Mom, Dad, you guys in here?" he called as he swam into the cave. His response was in the form of being crushed half to death by a back-breaking hug from an amazingly large merman.

"Danny-boy, you're just in time to witness our greatest breakthrough!" the merman, Jack, crowed.

"Dad…" Danny managed. The intensity of the hug was slowly cutting off his gill's access to water.

Maddie seemed to notice and came to Danny's rescue. "Jack honey, I know you're exited, but that's no reason to suffocate our son." She swam up to the two males and got Jack to release his considerably smaller son

"Thanks," Danny sighed, lightly rubbing his gills as they began working overtime to make up for the near-suffocation.

"We're finally going to go on the land and see the land-dwellers!" Jack would have been jumping with excitement if he had been able to. As it was, he was just swimming in small circles, which actually looked amusing to see one of his girth doing.

Danny grinned weakly. "Yeah, but…it's been so long since we've heard about them. How do we know they haven't made themselves go extinct?"

Maddie sighed. "That's what Jazz asked us. From what we know, land-dwellers are tough. I don't even know how to kill them, or if we can at all. That's why this spell is important, it-" She was interrupted by her husband grabbing her hand, and shouting, "Bonzai!"

Both parents began to focus and then glow green. At first it seemed like the spell was working, but when their faces contorted in pain, Danny knew something was wrong. Ignoring what his parents had taught him about the dangers of interfering with a spell before it's complete, he swam up and forced the two apart. The spell sort of imploded, collapsing in on itself with Danny at the center.

A fierce, burning pain flashed through his veins and he briefly thought that he was being burned from the inside-out. It was gone before he could scream and he was left dazedly floating in the water. He managed to rouse himself when he heard his mother speaking.

"Danny? Danny! Are you okay?" You know better than to interrupt a spell!"

Danny nodded weakly. It felt as if the water was slowly crushing him and he couldn't seem to breathe as well as he could a moment earlier. "Sorry," he managed. "You guys looked like you were in pain. Besides, I'm fine." It was a lie, but his parents already looked upset enough without their concern for him making it worse. His mother seemed to believe him though and he watched as she led his father out, whispering words of comfort to the now severely depressed man.

As soon as they were gone Danny darted out of the cave. A peculiar pressure had begun building in his chest and there was something in his mind telling him to _open his mouth and breathe_, which he found odd as he _was_ breathing and he certainly didn't need to open his mouth to do it. Finally though, the urge became too strong and he complied, immediately regretting the decision. Water rushed into his mouth and down his throat and he began coughing, trying to get the water out. He felt his mind beginning to spiral away and he stilled, a few lost bubbles escaping to the ocean's surface.


	2. Chapter 2

**My foot is ****_sooo _****bouncy! I have no idea why but it ****_won't stop!_**** Stop foot, stop! Why do I sound hyper right now, even though I didn't have lunch today? Oh yeah, because I'm finally updating! Wee, updates are fun!**

***clears throat* Anyway, I can't remember if this was published before or after my name change, so I'll put it in anyways. I was having a bit of an identity crisis because my penname was the same as my main OC. People kept calling me 'Mistheart' even though we are totally separate beings...despite that fact that she exists only because I do. It's not that I blame anyone, they didn't know that until I told them. But yeah, between that and the actual Mistheart having a cow for using her name as a penname (I've yet to change my DeviantArt name) I changed it. And so the very accurate penname of 'ObsessiveFanFictioner15' was born. I find it describes me very well.**

**And without further ado, let's- Huh? Do we need that again? Fine, if the real Mistheart will do the honors.**

**Mistheart: Fine you lazy human. *ahem* This girl does not own Danny Phantom no matter how many times he appears in her dreams. She also does not own...the Esperanto language?**

**OFF15: Yep. And that was ****_one time!_**** And I don't even know why he was there, he didn't do anything :P**

**Mistheart: You had a dream with him twice actually. Remember when you and him kept switching places and you couldn't figure out if you were talking about Maddie or your own mom?**

**OFF15: Just-just start the chapter**

* * *

_An Embarrassing (for Sam at least) and Rather Confusing __Find_

"Sam, why're we here again?" Tucker Foley ran to catch up with his best friend Sam Manson, who was examining the beach, looking for...Tucker wasn't sure what.

"It's the one time of day that no one is out here," was the only explanation received. It was sunset in early March, _of course _there wasn't anyone out. Plus it looked as if the clouds could break anytime, so that was as a good deterrent as the nippy air.

"But I just got the new version of Doomed!" Tucker whined.

"Suck it up Techno-Geek. A little walk never did you any harm," Sam growled. She leaned down and picked up a shell, examining it in the fading light.

'So that's what she's looking for', Tucker thought. He looked around Sam and squinted. "Hey Sam, what's that?" he asked, pointing to an odd shape further on down the beach. Sam looked up and noticed what he was referring to. She got to her feet and the two of them approached the...thing. When the got close enough to tell what it was, they stopped, which was accompanied by a strange squeak from Sam and the hasty covering of female eyes.

"Why is there an, um..." Sam didn't finish her sentence and turned to Tucker (her eyes still covered of course).

"I...don't know. I didn't put him there."

"Is he alive?"

"Again, I don't know. Should we see?"

Sam snorted. "By 'we' I think you mean 'you'. I am not handling a naked dead body, especially that of a boy."

"What if he's alive?" Tucker wondered.

"Then find some clothes for him! You always keep extra in your backpack right? Though I could never understand why," Sam muttered to herself.

"Fine, fine, I'm going." Tucker trudged over to where the boy lay. He placed two fingers on the neck and felt for a pulse. There was one. And from what Tucker could tell, the boy was breathing too. Remembering what Sam had told him, he quickly dug the extra clothes out of his backpack. They were a bit too small for him, which was why he had labeled them 'emergency only' in his mind, but they looked like they would fit the boy just fine. As awkward as he felt dressing someone his age, Tucker dressed the kid quickly, accidentally rousing him in the process.

The boy's eyes flew open. When he saw Tucker and Sam, he rolled over so he was on his stomach and tried to back away from them. This would have been more effective if he had made use of his legs instead of just pushing himself backward. When he realized that he was going nowhere fast, he collapsed back down onto the sand and gazed fearfully up at the duo.

"Hey we're not going to hurt you," Sam said softly as she drew closer to the two boys. Tucker blinked at her tone while the mystery boy relaxed slightly. She caught Tucker's look. "What?" she asked defensively. "Talking soft and friendly-like has a calming effect on scared animals. It stands to reason that it works on humans as well." Tucker just blinked again. "Whatever," she growled and turned back to the other boy. "Can you stand?" she asked him. He simply cocked his head and stared at her.

Tucker sighed and held out his hand. The boy tentatively took it and then looked back at Sam. She found his staring mildly unnerving, his vivid ice blue eyes seeming to pierce through her. She watched as Tucker took the boy's other hand and pulled him to his feet. As soon as he was there however, he began to waver, so she rushed up to help him. Unfortunately, he fell backwards...right onto Sam. She let out a breathless gasp as the air was forced out of her.

The boy looked over his shoulder at Sam with an apologetic look in his eyes. He rolled to the side and propped himself upon his elbows, examining Sam some more. She frowned. "Will you quit with the staring at me?" she asked irritably.

The boy swallowed and blurted, "Vi estas bela." As soon as he said that, he blushed and looked away.

Sam raised an eyebrow and shrugged, getting back to her feet. Motioning to Tucker for help, she put one of his arms around his neck, Tucker copying the action on the other side. Slowly they maneuvered him to his feet again, not daring to let him go after what had just happened. "Let's get him to my place. We'll have to sneak him past my parents, but that shouldn't be too hard."

"Sounds good. Your house is closer," Tucker agreed. He then turned to the boy. "My name's Tucker, what's your's?"

The boy blinked and said, "Mi vere ne komprenas lando-logxanto parolas."

Tucker started, then quickly replied, "Mia nomo estas Tucker. Kio estas via nomo?"

Sam stared. "You can understand him?"

Tucker nodded. "A bit. Esperanto is a old language, it's pretty much died out. Now it's mostly used to give nerds a secret language. I've never heard of someone speaking it as a first language though." He turned back to the boy.

"Mia nomo estas Danny. Kiu estas la knabino?" the boy, Danny, wondered, once again staring at Sam.

"Sam," Tucker said simply. Danny was walking on his own now, though slowly, and the two were flanking him just in case he fell again.

Sam glanced at Danny for seemingly the millionth time before she saw them. They were faint, slightly darker than his skin; thin dual scars on the side of his neck, looking for all the world like someone had cut it open. "Tucker, look at his neck and tell me what you see."

Tucker looked and gasped softly. "What are those?"

"Scars obviously, though how they got there is beyond me. Danny," Sam said hesitantly, slightly pleased when he turned in response. She touched his neck where the scars were and he copied her. He gasped and seemed to panic slightly, but then he calmed down again when he solved whatever dilemma he had with the scars.

They continued in silence until they were at Sam's street. Suddenly there was a crash of thunder and it started raining, steadily growing harder. Danny had panicked at the noise and was now dancing around as if trying to avoid the rain, making strange noises as he did so. Sam grabbed his hand and tried to get him to run, but she had forgotten that he could barely walk, much less run. He stiffened slightly and yelped, slapping a hand to his back. She blinked in surprise, but didn't comment.

Tucker was already on Sam's porch, safe from rain. They finally all dashed inside, Danny and Sams' hair dripping water. None of them stopped until they reached Sam's room and she had closed the door.

Sam heard Danny panting and turned to find him doubled over, fighting to breathe. She frowned when she saw something stretching the back of his shirt. Curious, she reached a hand out to feel, but was halted by him grabbing her wrist. She opened her mouth to comment, but choked on the words when she saw his hand. It seemed normal enough, except for the black webbing between the fingers.

Danny looked at her, trying to figure out why she had made a strange choking noise. When he caught sight of his hand, he paled, glancing between Sam and the offending appendage.

Sam tugged her wrist from his grasp and gave him the universal 'You'd better explain this or you're in _huge _trouble' expression.

* * *

**We've all gotten that kind of expression before haven't we? Yes, no?**

**Mistheart: Yes we have, now shut up**

**OFF15: Oh get back into my brain and stay there**

**Mistheart: I will as soon as you do your homework on a constant basis**

**OFF15: -_- Just be quiet**


	3. Chapter 3

_Explanations_

Danny stared at the two land-dwellers nervously, fingering the webbing between his fingers, which had reappeared when the water started falling from the...grayness. He hoped it wasn't like this all the time, otherwise land-dwellers would find out what he was rather quickly.

The female, Sam, had forced him into a chair when she saw that his hands had become webbed again. She pointed to the hand in confusion. "What the heck is going on with your hand?"

Tucker, the male land-dweller who could speak rough Esperanto, tried to translate their language. "Kio okazis?"

"Mi vere ne certas. Mi volas diri Mi ne estas kutime landon-logxanto, sed nun mi estas unu kaj mi ne scias kio daŭriĝas kaj-kaj mi timas. Timigita de kio okazas al mi, timigita de kion miaj gepatroj faros…" Danny's rambling died off when he came to a horrible realization. Some part of him, he didn't know how much, was part land-dweller and if his parents found out… He shuddered at the thought. He looked down, blinked, and was immediately absorbed by the act of wiggling the digits on his...what were these called? Whatever they were, they let him move on land and he could wiggle them like they were stumpy finger. Did the land-dwellers use them to pick up things as well? Probably not, as the two that had found him were wearing things over them. Oh well.

Tucker was attempting to decipher what Danny had said. "Um, he says he's not sure what's going on and that he's scared, though of what I'm not sure."

Sam looked at the boy. His hands had lost that webbing and he was inspecting his feet, wiggling his toes as if they were the most interesting things he had seen. She had to stop herself from giggling at the look on his face. There was plenty of worry there, but the innocent curiosity of _toes _was for some reason ridiculously funny. Even with her valiant attempt to stay indifferent, she still made a small squeaking sound.

Danny looked up at her while switching his focus from his feet to his ears, rubbing them between his fingers. "Ĉu vi estas bone?"

Unsure of what to say, as she hadn't learned Esperanto in the last two minutes, Sam simply nodded, which seemed to please him.

"Hey Sam, I gotta tell you something." Tucker's voice distracted her from Danny's weird behavior.

"What, you manage to figure out the rest of what he said?" Sam jabbed a thumb at the boy, who had started poking his forearms with avid interest.

"Well, no, not exactly. I've been recording everything he says with my PDA because I'm hoping to learn the language better, and by slowing his rant down I was able to figure out a few more words, mostly ones like 'I' or 'know'."

"So did you find anything _useful_?"

"Yes, actually I did Ms. Skeptic. While most of what he said was unimportant, I found out that he called us, and himself, _landon-logxanto_."

Sam rolled her eyes. "In English please."

"Oh, right," Tucker said sheepishly. "That means land-dweller in English." They both looked at Danny, who had looked up when he had heard the Esperanto words.

"Can you ask him to elaborate?" Sam asked pointedly.

"Ah yes, um... Danny?" The boy hummed in acknowledgment. "Kion vi volas diri per nomante mem landon-logxanto?"

Danny froze, glancing between Sam and Tucker with a look of slight horror appearing on his face. "Mi ne povas- mi ne povas klarigi." He bit his lip.

Sam could understand from both his tone and his expression the gist of what he was saying. "Why not?" she demanded. Obviously she was pretty readable too, because he suddenly looked rather guilty.

"Eble mi povas montri vin." Danny looked beseechingly at Tucker. "Ĉu la falanta akvo komenci tie ĉi?"

Tucker blinked at the odd question. "Falling water? Oh, rain. "Um, ne...sed mi devas ion alian ni povas fari."

* * *

Sam stared in mild confusion as Tucker began filling up her bath tub. Glancing at Danny, she saw that he seemed just as confused as she felt. Finally she shrugged and said, "Well, guess we better go find out what Tucker's doing." She paused in the doorway of her bathroom. "What are you doing?"

"Danny asked if it could start raining in here. This was the best alternative I could think of," Tucker explained. They both jumped when they heard a small gasp from behind Sam.

Danny brushed past Sam and sat next to the bathtub, staring wide-eyed at the water gushing from the faucet. He stuck a hand in the water, watching as the webbing from earlier appeared between his fingers again.

"Is it just me, or is he way to fascinated by a _bathtub_?" Sam whispered to Tucker.

"Something tells me he's never seen one before," Tucker replied as he shut off the water. This seemed to briefly distract Danny, who stopped swishing the water around to watch as the last few drops fell.

The boy shrugged and leaned over the side of the tub to stick his arms into the water. The two humans watched in shock as not only webbing between his fingers, but also fins that ran along his forearms appeared.

After a few moments, Tucker asked, "Is he a fish or something?"

"Fish?" was Sam's insightful response. _Fish...human...fins on arms...only one slightly logical explanation. _"I think you mean merman. It's the only thing I can think of."

Tucker watched as Danny leaned farther over the water so his face was barely above the water. His bangs brushed the surface of the water and wherever they got wet the black would fade to a silverish white. "You know, I think you're right. Why's he a human though?" Tucker wondered as he unplugged the bathtub.

"How am I supposed to know that? Can't you ask?"

"I don't know that much Esperanto!"

Danny, who had been focused on the little whirlpool the drain created, jumped in alarm at the outburst. He looked at them balefully before mumbling something and standing up. He tugged on Tucker's sleeve to get his attention and asked, "Se vi ne tuj preni min hejme, mi povas almenaŭ dormi ie?"

Tucker paused and thought through what he knew before shrugging and turning to Sam. "He wants to sleep somewhere."

Sam nodded. "He can stay here for the night. I don't want to walk back down to the beach this late. If he wants to stay of course." Tucker roughly translated for Danny, who nodded slowly. "Great!" Sam exclaimed. "He can have the bean-bag."

* * *

"So what do we do with him?" Tucker asked gesturing to Danny's sleeping form.

"Don't talk about him as if he's some _thing_ you can just get rid of!" Sam snapped. "Obviously we have to take him back to the ocean tomorrow. He looks our age, so maybe he has a family he needs to get back to."

"Right, yes, of course," Tucker said hurriedly. "Back to the ocean tomorrow, then a nice game of Doomed."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Really Tucker?" She shook her head. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. Come on, let's get to sleep."

* * *

**Translations (in order):**

**"What happened?"**

**"I'm really not sure. I mean I'm not normally a land-dweller, but now I am one and I do not know what's going on, and-and I'm afraid. Scared of what happens to me, scared of what my parents will do..."**

**"Are you okay?"**

**"What do you mean by calling yourself a land-dweller?"**

**"I can not- I can not explain."**

**"Perhaps I can show you."**

**"Can the falling water start in here?"**

**"If you are not going to take me home, I can at least sleep somewhere?"**

**Alright...**

**First off, sorry for the late update! I said I would update at the end of October, and then I started planning for NaNoWriMo (which I am not doing well on atm) and wasn't able to write _this._**

**Second, this chapter has been sitting in my notebook for over a year, along with the beginning of the fourth, so I sincerely apologize for not at least updating to where I was at before now.**

**So yes, hello, I am back, but updates won't be speedy.**


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